PLANNING COMMISSION

GLADSTONE, MISSOURI

 

May 16, 2005

7:30 pm

 

Item 1 on the Agenda:  Meeting called to order – Roll Call.

 

Present:                                                          Council & Staff Present:

                        Ms. Newsom                           Scott Wingerson, Assist. City Manager

                        Ms. Alexander                          David Ramsay, City Counselor

                        Chairman Hill                            Mayor Carol Rudi

                        Mr. Boor                                  Councilman Wayne Beer         

                        Mr. Stanley                                         

                        Mr. Shevling                            

                        Mr. Whitton                                        

Mr. Revenaugh                        

Ms. Abbott

Mr. Steffens

Mr. Reynolds

Ms. Lowe

 

Absent:           None

 

           

 

Item 2 on the Agenda:  Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Chairman Hill led the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Item 3 on the Agenda:  Approval of March 21, 2005 Minutes.

 

Motion by Ms. Newsom, second by Ms. Alexander to approve the March 21, 2005 minutes as submitted.    The minutes were approved as submitted.

 

Item 4 on the Agenda:  Communications from the Audience.

 

None.

 

Item 5 on the Agenda:  CONSIDERATION:  of a Final Plat at 5900 N. Oak Trafficway.  Applicant/Owner:  Northtowne Lincoln Mercury/Larry LaFever.  (#1248).   

 

Mr. Wingerson reported that this request will combine several parcels of land into one large parcel of land.  Primarily, this plat vacates the north McGee right-of-way and various utility easements throughout the property.  The engineer, Kaw Valley, indicates there are no utilities and no value related to the vacated portions of the plat.  The right-of-way was originally intended to serve a piece of property to the north of that; however, it is currently under Mr. LaFever’s control, so there is no need for that right-of-way.  Mr. Wingerson said the applicant is in the audience if the Commission has any questions for him.  Staff’s recommendation is approval subject to two conditions: a change in the reference points and correction of the Mayor’s name. 

 

Ms. Newsom asked about the circle inset showing additional right-of-way.

 

Mr. Wingerson answered that is the preservation of a site triangle.

 

Mr. Boor questioned what a site triangle was.

 

Mr. Wingerson explained that a site triangle ensures there is no encroachment of vehicles or fences or anything else that would hinder visibility in using the intersection. 

 

Mr. Boor asked if N. McGee is vacated.

 

Mr. Wingerson said that it is currently City right-of-way.  The proposed plat will vacate the right-of-way and, in effect, provide that to Mr. LaFever for his ownership. 

 

Mr. Boor asked if there is ingress and egress to this plot of land.

 

Mr. Wingerson answered yes there is.  It is in the N. McGee right-of-way from the south. 

 

Mr. Boor said that now there are trees there and it is a dead end. 

 

Mr. Wingerson replied that on the south side of what was McCarthy Nissan is 59th Terrace, so access to the property would be from 59th Terrace all the way to the north end of what is Mr. LaFever’s property. 

 

Chairman Hill asked if there needed to be any condition added that if this property is transferred that some easement be given to that property if it’s not transferred along with this.

 

Mr. Wingerson said that the Commission can certainly make such a condition; however, the property would have to be replatted if that were to happen.

 

Ms. Abbott asked if this was being done so that the vacant building could be occupied.

 

Mr. Wingerson said that there are several buildings on the property and right now the problem is that the property cannot be secured until the public street is vacated. 

 

Mr. Whitton asked if the applicant is planning on securing the property with a fence.

 

Mr. Wingerson answered yes.

 

MOTION:  By Mr. Steffens, second by Mr. Whitton to approve the Final Plat of Gladstone Nissan at 5900 N. Oak Trafficway with the two conditions by staff. 

 

VOTE:            Ms. Newsom              Yes     

Ms. Alexander           Yes                 

                        Chairman Hill Yes                 

                        Mr. Boor                    Yes                 

                        Mr. Stanley                Yes                 

                        Mr. Shevling              Yes     

                        Mr. Whitton               Yes                 

Mr. Revenaugh          Yes     

Ms. Abbott                 Yes

Mr. Steffens               Yes

Mr. Reynolds             Yes

Ms. Lowe                   Yes

 

Vote:  Yes-12, No-0.  The motion passes.

 

 

Item 6 on the Agenda:  Other Business.

 

a.      ZAPO- timeline.  Mr. Wingerson said that as many of the Commissioner’s know ZAPO is the Zoning and Platting Ordinance which is a re-write of the Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations into one document.  The desire to revise those documents has existed for close to ten years.  There have been several attempts through the Planning Commission and Council to move that forward and, for a variety of good reasons, that hasn’t happened.  Staff is proposing to present the entire document to the Planning Commission in it’s entirety, have the Commission review it and go ahead and adopt a basic document that can be amended over time.  The newly adopted ZAPO will put staff in much better standing as they do their normal business.  After the adoption, entire sections can be amended as needed, spending as much time as necessary on each one.  Mr. Wingerson suggested a study session take place with the Planning Commission either before or after a meeting in either June or July to begin discussion.  The Council would review it next, probably in September, and hopefully adoption would follow.  The same basic schedule was presented to the Council a couple of months ago.  They were supportive, but asked that Mr. Wingerson get the Commission’s concurrence before moving forward.

 

Chairman Hill questioned the idea of going forward with a basic ordinance and then improving on it.

 

Mr. Wingerson explained that the current ordinance was written primarily in the 1960’s and revised in the 1980’s.  The language that we use today in planning and zoning is different today.  The basic document, in effect, would update the language of the current ordinance and bring it into 2005.  That would not entail a lot of procedural changes.  From that point, staff can add the more time-consuming sections for the Commission and Council to debate publicly; such as detailed landscape provisions and fencing issues. 

 

Ms. Alexander asked if the Commission will be provided with the document in advance of the study session.

 

Mr. Wingerson said yes.  The entire document is about 300 pages or so.

 

Ms. Lowe asked Mr. Wingerson how many policy recommendations he is referring to.

 

Mr. Wingerson said there might possibly be six secondary topics that need consideration.

 

Ms. Newsom asked that the Commission be given ample advance notice for a study session.

 

The group decided to hold their study session for ZAPO on June 6, 2005 at 7:00 pm.

 

 

Item 7 on the Agenda:  Communications from the City Council and the City Staff.

 

Mayor Rudi said she was glad to see everyone present tonight.  She has had her copy of ZAPO for six weeks and is still reading it.  She encouraged everyone to think about what isn’t in it and also about the changes that we are going to have to make in the City as far as redevelopment and how ZAPO will be involved in that process.  One thing that has been brought up to her lately is the number of one-car garages. 

 

Councilman Beer said that redevelopment is something that this City is going to have to grapple with pretty quickly here and make some serious changes.  We need to look at how to rehabilitate existing neighborhoods, especially those immediate post WWII  type houses.  Those are folks who, generally speaking, are not in the market for a 2,000 sf house, they are not in the market to sell and they are happy with their home.  With the right renovation tools they might be able to expand their home. 

 

Councilman Beer also reminded everyone that Bluesfest weekend is coming up on June 10th & 11th.  He encouraged everyone to volunteer to help at Bluesfest if they haven’t already signed up.  Also that weekend is the Citywide garage sale.  He announced some upcoming Chamber events:  Chamber After-Hours, May 18, Holiday Inn Northeast 5:30-8:30 and May 26, Gladstone Chamber membership luncheon. 

 

Mr. Wingerson said he had a half a dozen things he wanted to follow-up on.  First, he will find out where Old Maid’s Creek is for Ms. Alexander.  The City’s TIF Commission had a very good training session last week.  The training host was Mike White of White, Goss, Bowers.  There is a connection between what the TIF Commission is doing and what the Planning Commission will be doing.  All the projects that go to TIF will eventually come to the Planning Commission, so staff will be copying some of the training material for the Planning Commission as some background information. 

 

On Monday, July 25 from 5:30-7:15 pm at First Bank there will be a Smart Moves workshop.  It’s a design activity that talks about public transportation in the region.  This one focuses on Gladstone’s role in public transportation.  A lot of people in transportation planning are indicating that N. Oak Trafficway is a pretty likely location for a secondary major route of public transportation.  Mr. Wingerson thinks that being part of the conversation is important at this point to make sure the City is not left aside. 

 

Mr. Wingerson explained that Ms. Abbott, along with other Commissioners, have brought up four issues that are somewhat connected:  Larry Meyer’s detention basin, Englewood Vista, East Creek improvements and trees down in a detention basin.  What he has been trying to do in the last couple of weeks is pull together a comprehensive response to all of those things to show the broader picture.  There is some history and it is taking longer that anticipated.  He is hopeful that  a comprehensive history will be in the Commission’s next packet. 

 

Finally, Chairman Hill had raised a couple of concerns of general interest.  The former Texaco lot south of Commerce Bank was of concern at the last meeting.  Prior to this last weekend, six citations had been issued to owners of vehicles for sale in that lot.  The other topic is Prospect Plaza, which has experienced a minor downturn in occupancy lately.  The furniture store, mattress store and Stone Canyon Pizza have closed.  The good news is that there is reason to believe that all those vacancies will be filled by the end of the summer.  He believes two of those tenants will be from Antioch Mall, which is fantastic.  Of course, the big space was taken by the Salvation Army.  Mr. Wingerson said that at first, he was not supportive of that; however with that said, the Salvation Army people have been extremely professional and cooperative in terms of setting that place up.  It’s actually a very nice store and easily competes with something like the Dollar Store or perhaps nicer.

 

Ms. Newsom asked what the backside of the store is going to look like in a month or two.

 

Mr. Wingerson replied that was the main area they worked with them on, the drop-off area.  The Salvation Army is committed to police that area as often as it takes to make sure it doesn’t get to looking bad. 

 

Mr. Wingerson said the last issue is Sheridan’s.  Staff believes August will be the start of construction.  The hang up in all of that, as it turns out, is the financing of the franchisee.  He has applied for a small business association loan.  The Federal regulations require that the term of the lease exceed the term of the lease on the land where the store will be built by some number of years.  Heritage Properties was somewhat uncomfortable with that; leasing the land longer than the building would be there.  So, going back and forth has taken a long time. 

 

Item 8 on the Agenda:  Communications from the Planning Commission Members.

 

Ms. Abbott said that the Bell’s have their new driveway and 58th Street is curbed and they’re getting ready to put in new asphalt.  It’s beautiful and gorgeous and thank you very, very much!  The whole neighborhood appreciates it.  One thing she is curious about is Santerra and what has happened to it?

 

Mr. Wingerson answered that the infrastructure contractor’s owner retired.  His second in command agreed to fulfill the contracts on his time schedule and therefore, has caused a time delay.  His understanding is that the company is suggesting January 2006 as a possible time for people to move in.  Not very many people have backed out of their reservations.  Only about one or two out of twenty-six. 

 

Ms. Abbott said there are some culverts sitting there that are half full of silt from the property.

 

Mr. Wingerson said he will have someone take a look at it.

 

Ms. Newsom said that she is coordinating the volunteers for Bluesfest and she really needs some help on Saturday night.  The shifts are only 2 ½ hours long and you get a free tee shirt and parking pass.  She is also working on a project with the Chamber where she needs old princess phones or old rotary phones, so let her know if you have something.   

 

Ms. Alexander said she was at the N. Oak Garden shop today and it was her understanding that they couldn’t put up a sign because the City is going to widen N. Oak.  She asked Mr. Wingerson if he knew when.

 

Mr. Wingerson said the project widens N. Oak to provide turn lanes to access 76th Street and is in property acquisition right now.  His best guess for a start date would be next spring.

 

Ms. Alexander also wanted to thank Public Safety who are very courteous and kind.  They were able to go on the decks behind some townhouses in her neighborhood and find an 89-year old woman on the floor who could not get up.  They had to break the glass to get in and when they left, they picked up every speck of glass.  That really impressed her and make her feel secure in Gladstone.  The last thing is, tomorrow night Leslie Bishop will be accepting an award on behalf of Dan Bishop at the Reardon Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

 

Mr. Revenaugh asked about an update on 64th & N. Prospect.

 

Mr. Wingerson said that the developer has provided the City with engineering drawings and are negotiating improvements with MoDot.  He also mentioned that surveyors were out today getting some last minute data. 

 

Mr. Revenaugh asked if there were any potential tenants yet.

 

Mr. Wingerson said he did not know of any yet.

 

Mr. Steffens said that he too was surprised by the Salvation Army’s new location in Prospect Plaza, but he knows that they are real proud of that new store.  He spoke with someone from there and they felt there was a real need for a store up here.  They are a great organization and one group where the money doesn’t all go to the officials of the company.

 

Item 9 on the Agenda:  Adjournment.

 

Chairman Hill adjourned the meeting at 8:12 P.M.

 

 

Respectfully submitted:

 

______________________________________    Approved as submitted _____

Becky Jarrett, Recording Secretary

 

______________________________________    Approved as corrected   _____

Brian Hill, Chairman